Crossing the Seine
Crossing the Seine - Aug '44
bigpigeon.us webpage WWII - Germany > ETO > France Liberated, updated by RAC 17 May 2022.

In less than two months, from late July to mid September 1944, Allied forces broke out of the Normandy Beachhead and liberated most of France and Belgium.
  • The Allied breakout began with the carpet bombing of German lines west of St. Lo on July 24 and 25.
  • Progress was initially slow but picked up momentum throughout August as enemy troops abandoned most of France and Belgium.
  • Most of Belgium was liberated in a few days in early September.
  • By mid-September, Allied troops were outrunning their supply lines and German resistance began stiffening.

Two additional Allied armies participated in the breakout and pursuit that ended combat in Normandy:
  • Jul '44 - The Canadian First Army, partially comprised of elements already in Normandy, began combat.
  • 1 Aug '44 - George Patton's Third Army began combat operations on the right flank of the US First Army. Some elements of the Third Army were already in combat.



With the ETO reorganization of 1 August 1944 there were now two army groups in France:
  • on the left flank, the 21st Army Group, commanded by General Bernard Montgomery and consisting of  the Canadian 1st  and the British 2nd Armies.
  • on the right flank, the 12th Army Group, commanded by General Omar Bradley and consisting of the US First and Third Armies, the First Army now being commanded by Courtney Hodges.
Links to subordinate webpages:
 The quick liberation of France and Belgium in August and early September of 1944 resulted from two combined Allied drives that induced a lengthy and quick German retreat:
  • Four Allied armies advanced east and northeast from the Normandy breakout across northern France and through Belgium. (From left to right across the Allied advance, the Canadian First Army, British Second Army, and the US First and Third Armies.)
  • Two smaller Allied armies advanced north from the southern France landing of August 15. (US Seventh Army and French First Army.)
In mid September, troops from the US Third and Seventh Armies met. By then, the four Germany armies formerly  in France had withdrawn to new defensive positions near or behind the German border, leaving many French seaports still occupied by German troops.
France Liberated
France Liberated
Some areas of France were not liberated by the middle of September:
  • The port of Brest did not fall until 19 September and Calais on 1 October. Dunkirk and some ports in the Bay of Biscay remained in German hands until the end of WW II.
  • Eastern Lorraine was mostly liberated in November 1944.
  • Alsace was mostly liberated in November 1944, but German troops remained in the Colmar Pocket in southern Alsace until February 1945 and northern Alsace until after mid-March 1945.
Sources for the WWII - France Liberated webpage:
  • The webpage header image, Crossing the Seine, Aug '44 from Wikipedia, shows a treadway bridge constructed by the 291st Engineer Combat Battalion and in use by the 3rd Armored Division. It is courtesy of wikipedia.
  • The France Liberated map is courtesy of howstuffworks.com.